Riftan lathered his right hand with soap and rubbed her bossom gently in a circular motion. It wasn’t an unpleasant sensation, but out of modesty, Max pulled back. This, however, didn’t stop his hand from wandering.
Max closed her eyes as she felt him squeeze her right buttock. He continued to lather soap on her body and massage her muscles while he carefully washed the long hair tumbling around her shoulders, tangled like a vine. Slowly, her stiff and aching body began to relax.
“Wash my hair too.”
He said as he rinsed off the foam on her head. Max’s tired eyes were half-closed, and when she didn’t respond, Riftan picked up the bar of castile soap and started rubbing it over his hair. He lowered his head to make it easier for her to reach over and massage his scalp. As Max came closer, she felt his hot breath hit her face.
Somewhat embarrassed, Max started to wash his hair with timid movements. To her surprise, Riftan moved forward, slowly licking the water droplets on her clavicle with his tongue. Max suddenly had a flashback to her childhood when she would sneak out to the garden and play with her father’s big hunting dog.
Washing Riftan now was an all too familiar experience of bathing her father’s dog who would lick her face.
“You got soap in my eyes.”
Riftan complained and rubbed the soap from his face with his hands. Max almost laughed at his action. She found it… almost adorable.
She continued to scoop water into the ladle and rinsed the foam off his hair as he picked up the kettle on the shelf and poured more hot water into the bathtub. With every minute in the warm bath, Max’s overworked muscles felt more languid. She could feel herself begin to doze off and soon enough, her shoulders submerged deeper into the water. In her lethargy, Max could still feel both anticipation and nervousness from the hands that were roaming her body.
She couldn’t deny it felt good.
“Maxi.”
In her ears, she heard a lazy moan, like a cat’s contented purr. Riftan leaned her head against his chest, seeing her droopy frame. Feeling a ticklish yet burning sensation running down her body, she leaned against him as well, his beating heart sounding like a calm lullaby to her ears. As she listened to the sound, her eyelids became felt heavier.
“Maxi… Are you asleep?” Riftan said, seeing the girl motionless on his arms.
“…”
“Hey, hey…”
“…”
“Really? Did you just fall asleep?”
Max barely felt herself being carried out of the bathtub. As the cold air hit her wet body, she shivered unconsciously. Max felt someone dry her wet hair and body and then covered her with a warm, slightly fragrant, blanket. Throughout, she could feel the comforting heat of the fire as it continued to burn.
The last thing she remembered was Riftan’s enthusiasm to caress her body.
***
Max suddenly stirred, feeling the chill, and awoke to her head cold and hair damp. Rubbing her eyes, she could hardly lift her body out of the bed as the frigid air enveloped her. Max looked down at her naked body, barely covered by the cashmere blanket. For a moment, she couldn’t remember what had happened last night or rather in the early morning.
“Of course, we arrived in Anatol yesterday…”
While taking a bath with Riftan, Max recalled falling asleep from the weariness that settled after she looked around in wonderment that was her new home.
However, the room was empty, saved for her in the wide bed.
But then she saw Riftan’s robe draped near the fireplace where only ashes remained. Max sat up and quickly noticed a change of clothes of what appeared to be an apron folded on the shelf next to the window. She wrapped the sheet around her body and got out of bed and stood on her tiptoes, trying to reach the high shelf, when suddenly, there was a knock on the door.
“Yes? Yes?!”
Max replied in a confident voice that sounded strange, even to herself. A soft voice replied through the other side of the door.
“I’m sorry to disturb you, madam. I need to add some firewood…”
“Oh, of course. I…I’m awake. Y-you can come i-in.”
Upon her affirmation, a tall and lanky maid opened the door and walked in. Although she was not a young lass, she had that mixture of youth and confidence oozing from her. Max guessed she was about thirty years old.
“I’m Rudys Ain, at your service, madam.”
“Ma-maximilian Cal-calypse. I-It’s a pleasure to meet you. ”
Even when Max was stuttering, the maid responded in politeness and calmly said, “I heard that you arrived very late and didn’t manage to have dinner yesterday. Would you like me to prepare a meal?”
Max couldn’t even have guessed she was famished. Everything had happened too fast in front of her eyes.
Remembering her current improper state of clothing, Max hurriedly said, “Before that, I need to get dressed.”
“Please wait for a minute, madam. I’ll aid you in changing,” the maid suddenly offered.
